Aggies drop home match against Weber State
On Wednesday night in Logan in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, Utah State suffered another crushing home loss, this time to Weber State, 77-71.
It was the Wildcats’ first victory in Logan since 1993. Jalen Moore led the way for the Aggies with 18 points, while Jeremy Senglin led the Wildcats with 22 points of his own.
The game was back-and-forth the whole way, with neither team leading by more than three points in the first half. In the second stanza, the Wildcats were able to build a seven point lead before the Aggies were able to answer with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 52 after a Koby McEwen 3-pointer. After several more sequences of both teams making plays, Sam Merrill put the Aggies up 66-65 with two free throws. The Wildcats then went on a 12-5 run to finish the game, including a four-point play by Ryan Richardson that put Weber State up by five.
“When it could’ve gone either way I thought (Weber State) made some big plays while we made some big mistakes,” head coach Tim Duryea said. “We got the lead there for a short time, and I think our shot selection went downhill… I think we got a little unlucky sometimes on defense… In close games, it comes down to who can make big plays, and I think they were a little better at that tonight.”
Offensively, the Aggies were clicking for much of the night. The team shot 48 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point land. Merrill and McEwen joined Moore in double digits, scoring 10 and 15 points, respectively. Merrill also added a career-high six assists. Shane Rector added eight while Quinn Taylor scored a season-high nine points. Norbert Janicek had somewhat of an off night, totaling only two points and four rebounds while battling foul trouble. As a team, the Aggies outrebounded the Wildcats 29-28 and out-assisted them 14-13.
Weber State, however, was able to match Utah State’s offense shot for shot, and then some. Senglin, who ranks fourth in the country for made 3-pointers, went only 3-10 from that distance. Other Wildcats picked up his slack, however. Richardson went 3-6 from deep, en route to 10 points on the game. Jerrick Harding added 14 points of his own while Kyndahl Hill pitched in 11 points. Hill also led the Wildcats with eight rebounds, including a crucial offensive rebound off a missed FT late in the game to all but seal it for the Wildcats.
The win extends Weber State’s winning streak to three games and moves them to 5-6 on the year. The Wildcats are now 2-1 against in-state opponents, having priorly lost to BYU and beaten Utah Valley University.
Afterwards, Moore spoke on the team’s youth, a theme throughout the young season. “(Weber State) is a veteran team compared to us… We played well, they played better,” Moore said. “The four-point play, the missed rebound (off a missed FT), those are guys just trying to make a game-winning play… It just didn’t go our way. Those are the things we’ll learn from.”
Concerning the remaining schedule and the team’s goals for the rest of the season, Duryea said, “we have one goal with our team, and that is to win the next game… Every night out, you have to fight and scratch… That’s what we’ll continue to do.”
The loss drops the Aggies to 6-5 on the season before entering conference play. “We’ll take a couple of days, get our bodies back,” Morrill explained after the game. “We’ve got three of our next four at home. We’ve got to defend our court if we want a chance… This was a good reminder… We’ll learn from this.”
The Aggies’ next chance to do that will be next Wednesday, the 28th, when Utah State welcomes Boise State to the Spectrum.